Product Review: Why FoodSavers Are the Best New Kitchen Tech

Product Name: FoodSaver 2-in-1 Stainless Steel Vacuum Sealer
Model: V4825 Bag Sealer
Retail Price: $175 - $250 CAD, replacement bags about $40 CAD
Where to Buy it: online or in stores – Amazon, Costco and Wal-Mart are a few viable options
​Features:

• Offers air-tight vacuum sealing for moist and dry food items
• Removeable drip tray (easy for cleaning, dishwasher safe)
• Automatic sensor for sealing or manually seal
• Retractable hose accessory for removing air from other products/FoodSaver bags
• 5 year limited warranty (some newer models are only 1 year)

Exterior of the FoodSaver - basic and well designed

​My Product Review
For the last three years, our household has owned a FoodSaver Bag Sealer and it has proved to be one of the best and most useful kitchen appliances we own! I was reluctant at first to use it, as I wasn’t confident in how well it would store food in the freezer. But my fiancé insisted it was worth it and did his research. He purchased it and after seeing what it’s capable of, I am happy report it is incredibly useful and well worth $200+! I write this review so that others might consider investing in the product and ditching the daily task of making lunch [or even dinner].

Pros:

• Easy to operate, clean and store
• Seals air-tight effectively and quickly
• Stores food well in the fridge, freezer or pantry
• Great for bulk cooking sessions (prep lunches for weeks in advance!)
• No more excuses for skipping lunches or choosing fast food in lieu of a home-made lunch

Cons:

• Bags are expensive to replace
• Extra bag waste to trigger sensor to seal (about 1 inch of wasted bag at each end after sealing)
• Accessory is finicky for placement of the suction cover on freshness bags
• Some products are harder to seal or must be sealed improperly (heavy on juices/sauce usually have to be sealed manually and before all the air is taken out)
• Imperfect seals due to bag scrunch when inserting into the machine result in less effective storing (air gets in)
• My Personal Rating: Product 4.5/5

A roll of bags stores easily inside and you can roll out as much as you need, then slice the plastic using the cutter

Simple to follow instructions - this isn't brain surgery

​There are much newer models of this machine that I can’t really comment on, but I hope that some of the newer models have addressed the issues above. Overall, we are really happy with the product and about once a season, spend 4-8 hours in one day doing a massive cooking to prep our lunches. It’s so much fun and definitely saves us time in the long run (and the food still tastes good too because it’s stored properly)!

So much waste on each end of the sealed meal...

Food, glorious food! We prep anywhere from 30-80 bags of 'pre-made' food per session using our FoodSaver

Bonus Tips:

• Do not purchase cheap knock-off bags – they don’t seal or cut nearly as well, and you end up wasting more bag since the sensor apparently also uses bag thickness to tell when it’s ready to seal (the bags we bought were thinner and proved to be more difficult to get the seal sensor to activate)
• Avoid sealing really wet/watery foods for freezing – it’s no fault of the bags or the machine, but these types of foods tend to come out even more watery and less flavorful once you defrost/microwave them.
• Buy a starter kit package if you can – it comes with everything you need upfront and is usually more affordable than buying everything individually (primarily because the bags are expensive). Some kits even have a bonus roll or two.

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*This review is 100% unsolicited and reflects my true opinion of the product.